I apologize for the late update but I hope this helps with that. And I would like to know how many of you would object if I changed the rating to 'M' and put a very…um intense kiss between our favorite couple in the last chapter. Please leave answer in review!

Kieno: mouth is muffled by duct tape

Naru: mouth also muffled

Both are tied in chairs.

Mai: DON'T TOUCH MY CAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, Kieno doesn't own us!!

Chapter 7

Naru sat in the men's bedroom and on his bed that he had yet to sleep in. He had looked in the mirror as he entered the room and could see the bruise forming on his jaw. Gene had never hit him before. Of course there hadn't been a Mai before. Naru closed his eyes to fight back the flare of desire that coursed through his blood as he remembered their very intimate kiss. She had been so willing to be with him but he couldn't let her. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

'I can't let this affect me. This is a case not a time to be imagining what can't be with Mai.' Naru told himself as he sat there and ran his hands through his hair. He could see her injured eyes as he told her that they couldn't be in a relationship. He had brushed her off and watched as the light in her eyes dimmed.

'Why can't you just let go, Naru? Why do you always have to be in control?' her voice echoed in his head and he breathed deeply. Losing control was dangerous for him and it meant that he was human. Naru wanted to be numb to human emotions. He no longer wanted to feel them because it meant pain that he didn't want.

What if they did become involved? What if something happened to her and he wasn't able to save her? What if she got hurt? How would he be able to cope with it? He would never forgive himself if she got hurt and he hadn't been able to stop it. A flash of her lying somewhere hurt and dying entered his brain and he shook his head. He would not think of what was never going to be.

'We can't be together…we can never be together and Mai knows that.' Naru told himself. The real question was if he wasn't even convinced then why should she be? If he wanted something so badly then why couldn't she want that same thing? He shook his head and stood from his bed. He sighed softly before he went to his table where he had placed the folder.

"MR. TEA-MAN!! MR. TEA-MAN!!!" Naru's head snapped up as Kaoru came barreling into the room. She was looking scared and upset and Naru noticed that she wasn't even limping. He frowned for a moment trying to figure out why she was able to walk before he turned his attention back to the frightened face that was staring up at him. He could worry about her 'injury' later.

"What is it, Kaoru-chan?" he asked and the girl shook her head and he realized that she was unable to talk as tears were pouring down her cheeks. He hesitantly took her into his arms and her chubby arms wrapped around his neck as she sobbed into his shoulder as he stayed kneeled in front of the sobbing girl.

"Mai-chan!! She's passed out again! And…and someone…..someone said that it was a ghost's fault!" Kaoru whined and Naru felt himself go cold. He reached out with his mind and found Gene hovering near. Though how Gene was still 'awake' was a mystery. The older twin snapped angrily that it wasn't him and Naru felt his mind go cold. Something else was causing Mai to return to the ghost world.

Naru took Kaoru to the base where Mai was now unconscious again. Kaoru gently disentangled herself and went over to Mai and crawled up against her. Naru clenched his jaw angrily. He was tired of seeing Mai unconscious all the damned time!! He went over to her and touched her face, she wasn't cold. He put his ear to her mouth, she was breathing. He frowned. This wasn't the same as what Gene had done.

"Mai, come on, wake up." Naru whispered softly as he gently shook her. This was familiar. He growled softly as he pulled Mai up and her head fell back limply and he closed his eyes. He felt Kaoru touch his arm and he looked at the child who looked so upset and sad.

"Kohana-chan wants to talk to you." Kaoru whispered and Naru frowned. Who was Kohana? Kaoru gave him a small smile before he watched as a mirror image of Kaoru appeared beside her from where she had stood when Naru began to shake Mai. The ghost was dressed in a kimono and had blood all over her face and her kimono and Naru realized that this girl, though her appearance to Kaoru was startling, was dead.

"I know what's happening. The people that killed me are trying to take Mai-chan's soul so that they can pass on." Kohana said and Naru felt what little blood he had left in his face drain. Was it Mai's goal to die on this case or was it his imagination this time?

"Can you stop it?" he asked quietly and Kohana shook her head and he watched as she approached them and gently touched Mai's forehead with her ghostly hand and Naru felt a pang. Would Mai do that to him and the rest of the SPR if she died? He held her hand tightly and trying to keep her from slipping away from them.

"No…but I know someone that can." Kohana answered and Naru looked at her sharply. If she knew how to save her then why wasn't she trying to save her? Naru wondered what the ghost child was up to and why she hadn't shown herself earlier. He sighed softly before looking back at Mai and he nodded to signal for her to go on.

"You." he looked at her startled and Kohana sighed. "I can send you to the plane that she's on but only for thirty minutes and then I have to bring you back. I'm not as strong as they are but I know that you can bring her back. I just know it." Kohana seemed convinced that Naru could do it.

"Fine." Naru agreed. Normally he would ask questions and think it through. But when Mai and the edge of death were involved he wasn't able to think to clearly. He found that he really had no desire to think quickly when it involved Mai because one moment of over thinking something could allow her to slip away from him. He tightened his hold on her hand. He wouldn't let her slip away.

"Thirty minutes. That's all I can give you." Kohana whispered before he jerked as he felt and icy coldness seep through his other hand. He looked down and saw that Kohana had taken his hand and he felt the coldness spread through his body before his lids grew heavy and his head landed on the pillow next to Mai's.

"Are you sure this is the only way?" Kaoru asked and Kohana nodded sadly as she studied the two unconscious teenagers.

Mai felt cold and alone. She whimpered and pulled her knees against her chest and kept her arms wrapped around her knees as she sat in the dark with her eyes closed as she tried not to cry. The last thing she remembered was falling asleep in the base and this certainly didn't feel like one of those dreams. Naru hadn't shown up yet and it was so dark and cold! She felt the suppressed tears making their way down her cheeks.

'Naru…help me…someone…please help.' she prayed silently before someone was pulling at her hands and her head shot up and she felt her eyes widen in surprise when she saw it was Naru. Not dream Naru but real Naru and she blinked in confusion.

"Naru?" she whispered and he nodded before he looked over his shoulder and she felt her eyes widen as the darkness melted away into the main hall of the orphanage. She clung to his hand as he helped her up and she didn't let go. He didn't seem to mind as his hand tightened even more around hers.

"We have to find a way to wake up. And as this is my first time in…a state like this…I'm going blind trying to figure this out." he replied and he felt her draw closer to him until she was hugging his arm and he looked down at her surprised. He tightened his grip on her hand before she started to walk towards the stairs.

"I don't know how to wake up. It was never a problem before and I never worried because…because I was always investigating." Mai whispered and Naru closed his eyes. She put her life in danger to investigate for him? Why didn't he feel more pleased about the fact that she was working when she was asleep?

"Kohana said that we only had thirty minutes to get out of here." he whispered and he saw Mai's eyes widen in surprise and understanding before narrowing in confusion as she obviously didn't recognize the name that he had spoken.

"Who is Kohana?" she asked and he shook his head. She frowned in confusion and she had no idea who Kohana was. She knew all the orphans. And none of them were name Kohana that she knew. At least she didn't think that any of them were named Kohana unless Martia had gotten a new orphan and hadn't introduced them. Mai felt slightly angry that Martia hadn't introduced them if she had taken in a new orphan.

"She's a ghost, Mai." he said and Mai blinked. A ghost? Naru had actually talked to a ghost?! Then the image of Kaoru in a kimono covered with blood flashed through her mind and she gulped.

"Did she look like Kaoru and was she wearing a blood-stained kimono?" she asked and Naru just nodded and Mai realized that they were headed to the base room. Even though he said he didn't know what he was doing he was still taking charge. Mai tried to not scowl angrily. She wondered how he just knew where to go.

"Mai, quit scowling at me. There's nothing else that I can do. I told you we only have thirty minutes to get out of here." he pulled on her harder and she stumbled up the stairs as he dragged her and she pulled to a halt as they reached the top of the steps.

"You don't have to drag me! I have two legs, you know!" she snapped. She rubbed her hand after she had pulled it away from him. She could just see the bruise that would be on her wrist in the next few days. Didn't Naru know the meaning of being gentle at all?

"Well excuse me if I have no desire to die." he snapped back and Mai resisted the urge to slap him.

"Well maybe I do!! Maybe I have no desire to live!" she snapped and she saw his lips tighten and his eyes narrow. She winced as he grabbed her arms and shook her extremely hard.

"You should probably think about the others before you just make the decision that you want to die! They might miss you." he said scathingly. Mai dropped her head as she was no able longer to look him in the eyes. He just didn't get it, did he? Why couldn't he understand what she was trying to tell him?

"They might, but would you? Would you even miss me?" she whispered angrily and she didn't mean for him to hear her but he heard her very well and she gasped as his hands tightened even more on her arms and her head snapped up.

"Dammit, haven't I proven anything to you, Mai?" he demanded and she gulped. He sighed as he realized that she didn't understand. He knew Mai wasn't stupid, no matter how much he may have said so, but he had to tell her outright what he meant.

"Mai…I'm not good at words, you should be the first one to know that." Naru never got to finish as there was a sudden blast that shook the whole house and both teenagers were thrown to the floor and Mai cried out as she hit the floor hard and she heard Naru groan from where he had landed beside her. She crawled over to him and gasped when she saw blood trailing down his face from his hairline.

"Naru!!" she cried and she watched as he sat up and put his hand against the small cut and he felt blood staining his finger and he put more pressure on the cut until Mai's hand joined his and he looked at her and he saw that she was worried.

"GET OUT OF OUR HOUSE!!!!!" a voice screamed and both teenagers looked down the hallway and saw a woman dressed in a kimono with a small pistol in her hands. Mai felt her heart drop as the house began to shake again. Mai cried out as Naru pushed her out of the way as the gun went off.

Mai groaned before she opened her eyes and she felt her eyes widen when she saw Naru on top of her before he looked over his shoulder again and she saw the woman heading for them. Mai cried out as Naru jerked her to her feet and she followed him as they ran to the base. She saw the door open and the Kaoru duplicate kimono girl was standing waving at them frantically.

"Hurry! You have to hurry!!" Kohana cried before Mai cried out as something grabbed her ankle and she fell to the floor and she looked back and saw that a hand had come up through the floor and grabbed her ankle. Mai groaned as her ankle was throbbing before the hand began to drag her back towards the woman with the gun and she screamed.

"Let go!! Let me go!!" she struggled as hard as she could before suddenly Naru was pulling her away and pushing her to the now glowing base and Mai looked at Naru as they stopped at the Naru.

"Go." he whispered and she frowned as she saw that the gun was aimed at Naru and she looked at him suddenly understanding what he was doing. He pushed her into the base as the gun went off and she gasped.

"NARU!!!" she screamed as the last thing she saw was Naru falling to the floor before everything went black and she felt tears on her cheeks.

Mai's eyes snapped open and she sat up before she looked at the body beside her and she saw Naru. She gasped as she remembered what happened. Naru hitting the floor after the bang that emitted from the gun. She reached out and began to shake Naru as hard as she could before she buried her head against his shoulder and sobbed.

"Please, oh god, please…wake up. I'm begging…" she sobbed before she pulled back and her eyes widened. 'Is this what it felt like? Is this what you felt when I wouldn't wake up, Naru?' Mai thought before she gently brushed his face.

"Please, don't die. I'm sorry I said all those awful things…I really didn't understand, did I?" she whispered. She felt worry eating away at her while she waited for Naru to wake up and hoping that he would eventually do so.

"You never understand." came a groggy reply and Mai watched with widened eyes as Naru sat up rubbing his head where the cut had been. Mai could hardly believe that he was alright. She had been convinced that the bullet had hit Naru and caused him to fall to the floor.

"YOU'RE ALIVE!!!!" she screamed as she tackled him and wrapped her arms around Naru's throat and refused to let go. Naru tried to pry Mai off but had no luck. She wasn't letting him go and he sat there as she held onto him tightly until finally she pulled back and he saw the smile that was on her face.

"I saw that bullet hit! How are you alive?" she cried and he frowned. He wasn't exactly sure how he was alive either. He remembered a searing pain in the middle of his back before he landed on the floor. The only reason he could come up with being alive was that he had landed in the base before he 'died' and was able to return to his 'human' form. And he told Mai as much.

"I'm sorry I was so mean earlier. I really was out of line with what I said. It really is scary when you think you're going to lose someone and there's nothing that you can do." she whispered softly and Naru put his hand on her head and she looked up at him and he sighed.

"Glad you finally saw the truth." he said and Mai sighed. Of course he wouldn't say something that would comfort her for something she said. He undoubtedly thought that she deserved her guilt. Of course he would. Mai shook her head mentally, if he didn't do things like that then he wouldn't be Naru, would he?

"No thanks to you." she taunted and she saw him frown angrily before she realized that Kaoru was nowhere to be seen. She scrambled of the cot and Naru followed her off the cot.

"Where's Kaoru?" Mai asked and she saw Naru frown. She realized that he didn't know why Kaoru wasn't in the room. Mai could feel a seed of worry starting in the pit of her stomach and she began to become frantic. She was usually right when she had such feelings.

"Naru, something's wrong. I just know it. We have to find her!" Mai cried and Naru frowned before nodding. Usually Mai could tell when someone was in trouble, having been in it enough during her time working for him, and he knew that he had to trust her. If she said something was wrong about Kaoru missing then chances were that something was wrong.

"AAAHHHH!!" Mai gasped at the sound of a scream. Her heart dropped as she recognized the scream.

"KAORU!!" Mai ran out of the room with Naru hot on her heels. He knew better than to let Mai go anywhere in a haunted house by herself. He just knew that the ghosts, whoever they were, would do whatever they could to injure Mai. And he knew that Mai wouldn't even know that it was coming. Naru wondered how the girl could be so unaware of the world around her when she was so focused.

"Kaoru! Kaoru!!" Mai finally reached the child's room and tugged on the closed door but she found that door was stuck. She heard Kaoru pounding on the other side of the door and she turned to look at Naru as he finally caught up to her and she saw the glare that he was giving her but she knew that they didn't have enough time to argue over her running off and not telling him a single thing and forcing him to follow her with no explanation.

"Naru, the door's stuck! We have to get her out of there!" Mai begged and Naru just nodded before he went over to the door and he could hear Kaoru beating on the door frantically.

"Kaoru, listen closely. You need to step away from the door so I can kick it in." Naru said calmly and he heard Kaoru sniffle before she called that she was out of the way. He quickly kicked the door in and he and Mai rushed in and what they caused them both to freeze. The room was covered in blood.

"Oh, god. What happened?" Mai whispered as she knelt down and hugged Kaoru who was also covered in blood.

"I came in here to change clothes and then the walls started bleeding and then…I tried to open the door and it was stuck…and I was so scared!" Kaoru sobbed and Mai rubbed her up and down on the back.

"It's alright." Mai whispered before suddenly the whole house began shaking and Mai looked up alarmed at Naru. Naru frowned before looking over his shoulder and into the hallway and saw the light flickering and his eyes widened before he looked back down at Mai as she knelt on the floor.

"NARU!! MAI!! GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!!" Takigawa's voice called and Mai looked up at Naru confused before the house began to creak. She looked up at the ceiling startled and saw that it was beginning to crack. She looked at Naru again surprised before the creaking grew even more and she began to stand with Kaoru in her arms.

"NARU!!" Mai screamed before something hit her in the head and everything went black as the house collapsed on top of all of them.

Kieno: gets out of bonds Alright, please review.

Naru: breaks free and throws rope at Kieno

Kieno: DIE!!!

Mai: sighs Please review. I give up.